


Caged World (Prototype)

by 13EzequielKirishiki



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Hallucinations, Multiple Personalities, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, Survival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 14:32:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12750225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/13EzequielKirishiki/pseuds/13EzequielKirishiki
Summary: He had accepted that he was a dream, and had failed to fight for his existence, but when Haise wakes up in a world where a different kind of monsters have brought humanity to the verge of extinction and a series of events lead him to join forces with the few who dare to strike back, the former investigator tries to search for answers while fighting for, what he thinks, is the same cause and also against the voices in his head.





	Caged World (Prototype)

 

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Tokyo Ghoul :Re nor Shingeki no Kyojin or anything related with both the Anime and Manga, all those are the property of their respective authors (Sui Ishida and Hajime Isayama).

* * *

 

**Caged World.**

* * *

 

 

Location: Rooftop of the Lunatic Eclipse Building - Eight Ward of Tokyo.

Pain.

Sharp, penetrating pain was all he could feel, both internal and external.

That was all he could feel as his body swayed in the air before crashing into one of the nearby steel pillars.

The investigator spat blood as he felt that his spine had probably broken from the impact and tried to sit up, receiving in return a sharp kick in the stomach, courtesy of his insane attacker with the horribly mutilated face that delighted in punishing him with numerous blows with the toe of his or her shoe on various parts of his body while he or she perjured and perjured.

"I will be loved! I will be loved!" Shrieked the now-identified feminine and horribly guttural voice as a sinister smile sketched on her seamed face and continued to torment him, causing some blood to splat around both.

 _'Blood ...'_ Haise thought barely consciously because of the immense pain that tortured his body exposed to similar events, even his amazing resilience was not enough in that situation. He felt something wet running down his face until it came to his lips. _'My skull's split and I taste honey.'_

His right arm felt distant, and there was no sign of his hand, which had been brutally amputated moments before by his attacker and had fallen off the building while Yukimura 1/3, his faithful quinque was on the other side of the roof, completely out of reach. Or at least for him.

Haise heard some chuckles from the Owl, he could not see the mossy silhouette of the monstrous kakuja, but he knew that it must be somewhere on the heights, watching the spectacle with interest.

The predecessor, the Tsukiyama heir was out there too, huddled around the corner not understanding how his little empire had turned upside down and now he was surrounded by three of the Ward's most dangerous beings.

Well, four if you could count the abomination his students were dealing with at the time. He still remembered the last transmission he had heard from Shirazu before he was assaulted by the Owl and his servant.

_"Sassan ... How ... How are things on your end?"_

He had a bad feeling when he had received that, but before he could respond, the leader of the Quinx Squad had gotten ahead of him.

_"Itou Squad ... Well, Kuramoto is severely wounded."_

That had immediately put him in alarm and he had thought to abandon Special Class Ui's orders and go to the lower floors to support those who were trapped there, both his students and the Associate Special Class Kijima's.

Ito was a First Class Investigator and the rest of his squad plus the Qs were no pushovers. What kind of ghoul was capable of killing an entire squad?

_"We're fighting a ghoul here ... Saiko's okay, I'm not sure about the rest ..."_

Haise had already subdued the Tsukiyama heir and was ready to deliver the final blow so that he could go with the Qs to face the threat when he heard something that made his blood run cold.

_"Quinques are not doing anything to this guy ... Even Nuts is useless ... I ... Sassan ..."_

Unfortunately, he never had an opportunity to answer, since it was in that moment that he felt a sharp pain in his right arm followed by the noise of Yukimura clinking against the ground. When tried to find the problem, he only saw his hand,- or lack of thereof was no longer there and its place was occupied by a bloody wrist.

He had been beaten by the monstrous Rinkaku of his attacker and pierced, only to end up being brutally grabbed by the neck and threatened to be thrown into the abyss.

As a ghoul, even with his advanced regeneration ability, that could not save him from certain death there.

The painful memory of his training in the 0 Division had been the trigger that allowed him to be able to break free of that uncomfortable position and win the upper hand over his opponent.

He did not like to be pierced, but he liked to pierce. Serpent could offer testimony about it in case someone wanted confirmation.

He had finished submitting the servant and was somewhat astonished by his regeneration, a certain skill that he seemed to have seen in the past. He had been willing to finish off his fallen opponent only to be stopped by the Tsukiyama heir who seemed to plead for the defense of the alluded who only limited himself to mutter unintelligible passages.

It was a terrible mistake to have hesitated at that moment, for a huge crunch on the heights ended up revealing the immense nightmare of several CCG investigators. A colossus of cyclopean proportions and monstrous features, enormous jaws repelled by rows of sharp fangs but above all, a huge black eye that was fixed on him before an avian scream emerged from its guttural throat.

The One-Eyed Owl.

A single beat of his two scimitar-like blades that sprung from its deformed shoulders had been enough to send him against the wall as it roared again and revealed the true face of the most feared Ghoul by the CCG.

Truly, he must have offended a god in his past life to deserve this. Of all possible persons...

The ghoul had proceeded with taunting him about his failures to be close to Arima's level and about his mental instability only to encourage his 'servant' to finish her work.

And now he was in that position, feeling how his conscience was unable to withstand all this physical pain and his eyes closed, only for when he opened them, appear in a place too grimly and familiar.

An industrial-like realm with numerous metallic pipes and ladders, disturbingly familiar to the laboratories of the 4th Ward. Haise stood headfirst on the floor which imitated the pattern of a chessboard.

_'Shi-ra ... zu ... Everyone ...'_

Then he only felt like the bizarre realm that formed his conscience was distorted until he felt how his body was lying on the chess-like pattern, except that this time he was not alone.

In front of his head was a very familiar face. Traits somewhat definite and childlike, gray sleepy eyes, hair as white as snow, but a smile that conveyed pure mock pity.

It was him. The manifestation of his past self.

The Ghost of the Past Christmas.

The childish manifestation inclined his head slightly to the side as if he were inspecting a dying and sick animal. Even with the morbid curiosity that a child should definitely not have, especially one with such an angelic appearance.

What a pity that It was all but innocent.

The manifestation laughed, it was a high-pitched sound that ran through Haise's spine like an infernal chill.

**_"... Ah, you ..."_ **

_'I cannot breathe,'_ Haise thought faintly before trying to free himself only to be stopped by the sinister voice of the mental entity. _'At this rate...I'_

 ** _"You're a baby suffocating inside his own bottle..."_ ** Calmly stated the white-haired boy, ** _"Say..."_**

 _ **"Weren't you going to save me?"**_ He finished sending a gaze that reflected pure pity towards the First Class Investigator still lying on the floor.

He continued with taunting him with all sorts of hurtful comments making disregard of the young man's attempts to get up, even approaching a little more, which resulted in a ideas mistake since Haise, even though he was weak, was still considered a prodigy for a reason.

The only available hand of Haise closed around the neck of the boy and threw him to the ground while trying to choke him in an effort to shut him off. He no longer cared about it, he just wanted to shut up at least that inner demon which had inhabited his mind several years.

The chess pattern was filled with cracks as if it were glass and began to fall off, while numerous white flowers began to sprout from the floor and covered it completely while huge cubes with the same pattern of chess levitated imposing above the two.

"Quiet." Snapped Haise while applying much more force to his hand. The childlike manifestation struggled to breathe but instead, just grinned.

"Die," he replied through agonizing breaths, "Die!" He repeated with much more intensity to which Haise did not seem to take importance because he only applied much more force while its expression degenerated, even more, showing that its control was collapsing.

"You die, Kaneki." Answered Haise with all the venom he could express through speech. "Just die, just die me."

 ** _"Yes, we must die ..."_** Continued the child as his expression became a true euphoric one with hints of cruel humor. **_"My salvation ... Your salvation .."_** He coughed when he felt pressure again his neck.

Haise's response consisted in continuing to try to choke him while the familiar silhouette of the Kakugan manifested in his left eye showing the features of completely losing the fragile sanity in which he tried to balance.

 _ **"I don't want to be happy!"**_ Stated the childish manifestation with a shriek.

"Just die and disappear." Replied Haise while the crimson blood limbs of the kagune crawled from behind and approached, ready to pierce through the skull of the down manifestation.

 ** _"Yes, yes, that's it!"_** Excitedly exclaimed his past-self at the sight of the predatory appendages. ** _"Kill me! Kill me!"_**

But it was one last exclamation that made Haise stop and feel the blood in his veins turn to ice.

**_"I SHOULD HAVE DIED THAT DAY!"_ **

Haise only looked in horror as the darkness took possession of the eyes of the manifestation while a truly maniac expression was drawn on his face, seeing that thing with the appearance of a child excited by the mere idea of dying was something that bordered on the limits of the perverse.

The manifestation arose as his hands crossed his cheeks and his mouth opened revealing a black and bottomless pit.

**_"Yes Haise, that's right, kill me, kill me."_ **

Spoke the mental horror while the white flowers around them turned into spider lilies with the same color of the blood a field of flowers disturbingly familiar to him.

 ** _"Kill me, kill me, die, Haise, die me."_ ** He said taking some steps towards him with the same maniacal expression drawn on his face.

Haise stepped back as his kagune retracted and his kakugan disappeared, leaving him vulnerable to the present entity in front of him, images slowly began to pass through his mind as a flash of recognition crossed his face which was noticed by the other.

An expression of anguish began to draw on his face as his eyes widened in response to all the knowledge he was seeing.

"N-no," he weakly tried to deny, "I-it c-cannot be."

 _ **"That's right shithead,"**_ Spoke the ghoulish manifestation, this time with active kakugan, ** _"Do you remember, don't you?"_**

_"A foolish begging, young one."_

Haise received the pure shock impact as he received a wave of memories about it. All those forgotten memories began to flow through his mind. He saw his childhood forgotten, not under the name he had received, under his true.

A living room, the silhouette of a child no more than seven years old huddled against the floor while receiving one blow or another beaten by a woman with the same hair and a pair of glasses, looks annoyed, but his expression was nothing in comparison with the one he saw in the child.

That hair, those features.

 _'N-no ...'_ Thought Haise completely paralyzed.

The manifestation, without any of the ominous characteristics, said his thoughts aloud.

**_"I really was beat a lot by the people I loved the most."_ **

_"Mommy, I'm sorry...I..I don't need...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"_ Cried the memory still receiving a slap. _"I don't need it anymore! I'm sorry, I won't ask for anything, I'm sorry, I'm sorry"_

Haise kept trembling, even as he felt the floor disappear at his feet only fell on his knees as he experienced every single second of memory in his own skin.

_'I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry **I'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRY'**_

And it did not stop there, other scenes took its place and none of them more pleasant than the other. He saw himself covering Fueguchi's eyes before a woman in front of her was quartered by a too-familiar quinque, as was the researcher who was holding him. He saw it as it was in a camera similar to a gigantic cage being subjected to appalling torments by a huge man with a mask that Haise immediately recognized.

_"P-Pl .. please .. I do not feel my fingers ... N-don't pluck them anymore! .."_

He felt a hand on his shoulder as the next memory passed. A gigantic chamber or subterranean tunnel with several columns rising, a pasture maintained pride in the ground but outside of all that, there was no trace of any presence.

 ** _"I really loved mommy"_** He heard the voice of his past self from a distance, it was loaded with grief and bitterness. Soon there appeared the familiar silhouette that seemed to be admiring the field of flowers that was in that chamber.

 ** _"Hey, I was happy!"_ ** He exclaimed like an ordinary child at an attraction. **_"Back then, in that underground flower field...I got to meet the Reaper!"_**

Haise watched in horror as he had been subjected to the overwhelming power of Arima in that chamber, as all the strength he had acquired had been useless at the time. But he was more horrified to hear the chuckles of his counterpart who seemed to be watching the scene as an old family home-made video.

 _ **"And then, like the [Maggot] mommy was,"** _ continued the white-haired child with the same bitter tone, **_"I too..."_ ** He said while bitterly staring at Arima's IXA.

 _ **"But I messed it up,"**_ he continued. **_"I didn't die."_**

The landscape began to change slowly until the huge cubes with the chess pattern disappeared and were replaced by a huge metal tower with a kind of bench of the same material at the top. Bench in which the two were sitting while the city surrounded them.

Haise was in denial about it. From that day when he knew that his memories would come back, he knew it was going to be painful, he knew that his past had many dark secrets, but he could not imagine it on such a scale.

Had his brief attention even made sense? How was he supposed to continue to live with the weight of his conscience, preventing him from even breathing? How should he feel if the chains of his sins kept him firmly bound? Horrors of his past? Had it all been genuine? Even? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? **Anyone?Anyone?Anyone?Anyone Anyone?Anyone? Anyone?**

He merely asked about something he already knew, he needed it, just to hear the confirmation. The truth always hurts after all.

"Did ... I want to die?"

Ken Kaneki, or at least what was left of him, trapped in the childish form, nodded as his feet hit the bench underneath.

 ** _"Definitely ..."_ ** He nodded, _**"That's why I ... Yes."**_ He stared at the emptiness with something akin to pure bliss.

Realization hit Haise like a hammer when he understood the hidden message left by him, or at least his past one.

_"Your salvation was but sleep and sweet dreams."_

Haise paled as he ran with his only hand his bicolor hair which remained covered with some blood as a result of his wounds inflicted on the skull. His eyes seemed to be bloodshot, and they on to be on the verge of tears.

Ken looked at him with an empty expression before continuing. ** _"This time ... Make sure ... To do something that will allow you to be loved by everyone."_**

Haise did not seem to pay any attention to him as he stared out into the black abyss that lay just below them.

_'All my existence was just that? Was I ever real? Were at least all the things that I committed several times to follow the orders of my superiors meant to be worth?'_

_**"A good thing, a bad thing, it does not matter."**_ Continued Ken with a genuine smile forming on his face. "And after that, you see ..."

The white-haired boy turned to look at him directly and smiled.

_**"** **_I_ want to die in style!"** _

Haise looked at him with the same empty expression directed toward the moments before. "Will that be ..." _'I'm a sweet dream ...'_ "Will that be our salvation?" _'Once the sleep falls from my eyes and I begin to cry it's all over ...'_

 _ **"Yes."** _ Replied Ken from his place looking like an inmate being freed from his cell.

"What ... What do you mean?" Asked Haise trying to negate the comprehension between both selves.

The one with the white hair did not pay attention to him and asked in turn. **_"So, can you manage it?"_**

Haise looked at him with some pity as he felt the blood spurt from his skull rise up to his cheek, one of the strands of hair had turned completely black as a result.

He felt like a powerful melancholy was taking over. All these memories were resurfacing one by one, they were no longer random scenes with such brutal content that they would probably make the interrogators of Kokuria look like saints in comparison.

It made sense. He had seen too much darkness in the world, he had experienced it even in his own flesh. Reality inflicted infinite suffering through power, power itself led to the desire for conflict, whether by hunger as most ghouls did, by the defense as the CCG, by ideals like the Aogiri, or simply because of the sake of it, like those of the Clowns. But the lack of power led to the loss of everything.

But that had not been enough, he had already seen it in some of the memories. Not even he, despite all the power that he had obtained, that had not been enough.

It had not been enough,It had not been enough, It had not been enough, It had not been enough It had not been enough It had not been enough It had not been enough,It was not enough,it was not enough,It was not enough,it was not enough,It was not enough,it was not enough.

Somewhere along the way, he had mistakenly started once again to desire that. Giving himself completely into the dark and letting the merciless reality wake him up, he felt as he was changing, all the memories that had belonged to Ken Kaneki were completely entering his.

But memories are the quintessence of identity, and they are what form the experiences that in turn are in charge of forming the identity. And Haise Sasaki, First Class Investigator, a former member of Division 0 and current mentor of Quinx Squad, had no such experiences.

Now he understood, that enormous despair and desire to die of his predecessor, How to live after that? There was simply no way to be able to rest peacefully after those sights.

Haise watched as his own memories began to appear before his eyes, from the day Arima Kishou had allowed him to choose a new name in Kokuria, going through the years in which he had been under his command in the 0 Division along with Koori Ui and Hairu Ihei, his rise through the ranks of the CCG and his assignment as mentor for the Quinx. His days with his pseudo-family fulfilling different investigations and assignments, the confrontation against Serpent, the Nutcracker investigation, the assault on the Auction, his promotion to First Class [And the faces of those who were biased against his nature]. And strangely also the current assault against the Tsukiyama Family.

 _'Is this how it ends?'_ Haise closed his eyes as he watched as the darkness itself was enveloping him. _'I was just a good dream so I could get away from it all ... I'm sorry guys'_ He kept thinking of all those he considered his friends, from his own squad to his mentor and friends that he had made from all his career.

Haise peacefully closed his gray eyes as he let a bitter smile decorate his lips. _'I just wish I could have dreamed a little more ...'_

But then, one of his memories came to the rescue. That conversation with Shirazu during the Nutcracker investigation.

_"If your memories return, would you quit being an investigator?"_

It was at that moment, in which his own memories began to take the place of the [Invaders]. All those memories, both bad and good, all those sorrows, those insecurities and doubts about himself, but also those joyful experiences, those good memories.

That was his, and no one could ever take it away.

 _'No ...'_ Haise thought, _'Although I am nothing more than a dream, everything I lived outside of Ken Kaneki's statement was real.'_ He began to squirm, trying to free himself from the darkness that was consuming him.

_'I do not care about the wishes of a dead person ... I want ... to live ...'_

Ken watched Haise's reaction and nodded with a neutral expression before approaching to join his forehead with his, he was also going to disappear, his purpose was complete.

His body was going to become whatever it was that turned out to be when the memoirs had finished assimilating. He just hoped he could fulfill his last will.

He could not help but startle when he saw Haise's eyes suddenly open, and his dark hair began to retract until the roots were left alone. He saw with surprise how even the blood of his wounds began to recede as though he had never existed.

Haise stared at him before saying what Ken had never expected.

"No."

 _ **"What do you mean, no?"**_ Exclaimed confused the manifestation with all the possible poison he was able to express his voice. He was supposed to be completely unpacked, the memories must have left him at the edge of the abyss, it was supposed ...

"I know what you're thinking," Haise began, looking at him quizzically, "I got your memories, but I didn't accept them."

Now it was the turn of the manifestation to go into shock.

**_'Is he in denial? Nonetheless? Impossible'_ **

_**"You cannot reject me, Haise, you do not even exist!"** _ Exclaimed the demonstration trying to demoralize him, he needed it to clear to be able to finish with everything, a mere false copy wasn't going to prevent it.

"Maybe," Haise continued, sighing slightly, "Maybe this is not my body, I may have lived a life without memories, but that's the point."

At the confused look of the demonstration, Haise sighed before facing him.

"It's my LIFE TOO!"

The manifestation coughed blood as the tip of a kagune emerged below the bank impaling him right in the stomach. His eyes fluttered at that.

**_"Since when do you know to detach your kagune ...?"_ **

Haise smiled. "I learned many things from your memories." He commented while the tip slowly disintegrated obeying the commands of the user. "And this is my mind now, I control everything that happens here."

 _ **"I wouldn't be so sure."**_ Answered Ken as his sinister smile reappeared. And seeing Haise's confused expression, Ken merely confined his questions to him.

**_"Only you rejected our memories, how arrogant you are to think that Haise Sasaki is a large part of us."_ **

_'Why the hell is he talking in the plural?'_ Haise thought, _'Well, it doesn't matter, I must hurry to help them and-'_

He coughed blood and looked down only to see a kind of skeletal arm of the same color of blood flowing from his own belly. The limb began to move before another of the same size emerged from the wound and began to tear the flesh around.

 _'W-what ... is this ...?'_ He tried to deduce before a sharp pain claimed his belly and it opened revealing a torrent of blood and viscera from which a humanoid mass emerged.

 _'Black/ **Black'**_ It was what both Haise and Ken thought about seeing the newcomer at one and the same time, he was a bit higher than the first but much more impressive. Completely dressed in black and with a hair of the same color of obsidian. One arm gleamed for his absence, just like Haise's, but from his back sprouted one with the same skeletal crimson form.

Ken seemed euphoric to see him and tried to say something before another tentacle emerged from the back of the newcomer and brutally beheaded. The white-haired boy's head rushed down the abyss to the full darkness, but Haise could still see the smile on his face.

 _'Too fast,'_ Haise thought as he held his open belly as he squeezed in pain, his regeneration had begun to repair the damage and the pain began to disappear slowly as did the deep wounds.

 _'I bless  my regenerative capacity'_ He thought as he tried to sit up as well as not draw the attention of the other. _'If I can get through it quickly, I probably will not need to fight,'_ continued the Investigator, while he was noticed his severed hand, 'Not that I'm in the best condition to offer any resistance.'

 **"Don't move."** It was the raspberry and feral response he received from the other. Haise stopped short while his hand went straight to Yukimura's hilt before he remembered that he no longer had it.

The other turned to allow Haise to have a clear view of his face and what he saw did not like anything. A face as definite as his own, one that completely reflected all the primal instinct that carried inside him, the activated Kakugan and the black veins that traveled part of his face accentuated, even more, those demonic features. A furious smile that soon seemed to become a hungry one.

Haise did not waste any time and released one of his tentacles quickly that ended up stabbing the stomach of the demonic manifestation. He gave a grunt of disapproval and broke the kagune with a forceful blow, which caused Haise's eyes to open wide.

 _'He's strong'_ He thought before he felt a slight cut in his left arm that forced him to turn and look with horror something he did not expect. His left arm was not there either, just as his right hand had been crooked roughly.

He did not have time to mourn the loss of his arm because the same or kagune stabbed his torso, causing multiple threads of blood to emerge from the cut of the cloth and the skin. Haise growled in pain as he tried to stand up just to see how the skeletal limb ripped a small metal pole from the structure and held it.

"..What ... do you plan ... to do ..?" Tried to ask Haise as the blood flowed from his mouth and lifted his head to face the other who only just watched him sadistically while raising his skeletal limb.

 **"Shut the hell up."** He stated before brutally nailing the tube into Haise's right eye. The blood splashed on his face but he did not seem to care as he pushed the tube further in, which caused a moan of pain from the investigator.

The other effortlessly eluded the impacts of two tentacles that sprouted from Haise's back and deflected the third with his kagune-arm demonstrating how sharp was his.

Haise continued sending the two tentacles to attack his opponent and then with a third removed the metal tube of his eye leaving an empty and bloodied socket behind. Then he noticed that his tentacles were pursuing nothing because there was no sign of the other.

"Where did he g-?" Mumbled Haise before he heard something like he cut the air and watched as the tip of a tentacle sprang from his belly and lifted him up.

"Agh" Coughed Haise, as he watched as the fully began to take on the shape of a half-dozen hands sliding toward him, immobilizing him quickly. Before realizing it, the tentacles that had him impaled raised him lightly before brutally throwing him to the floor of the metal bench causing a creak in the metal.

Haise had already experienced being impaled several times, the worst had been the S-rate he had managed to subdue almost two years ago, but what he was feeling at that time almost make him miss the last one.

Haise raised his head weakly and faced the sinister silhouette in front of him.

"Is...It...You?" He asked knowing what was going to happen if the other confirmed his question.

The Black Reaper seemed to stare at him, although it was hard to see since his hair was hidden in his eyes.

 **"Yeah,"** he replied after a few seconds before thundering one of his fingers. That crack brought new memories to Haise who tried hard to block them with his that wasn't the only thing that cracked because he ended up noticing how the kagune that had him impaled began to wrap around him as if were a kind of cocoon.

 **"Goodnight, Haise."** Stated the other while his eyes revealed themselves with an amber-like glow strangely familiar to an owl **"No more dreaming, no more waking. I've enough of dreaming."**

And without warning, he lifted the tentacle and fluttered Haise into the abyss freeing him from his bindings. The silhouette of this one began to lose itself in the darkness as it descended.

Haise watched as the metal structure slowly disappeared into the distance, and as the great darkness, the one that was about to consume it fully, last time surrounded it completely.

The investigator only limited himself to close his eyes while a bitter smile decorated his face for the last time.

'It would have been great, having been able to keep dreaming ...' He said to himself as his memories began to cycle through his mind like a movie reel, his good deeds that he had wrought in the last 3 years began to play in his mind. All the joy he had felt warmed his currently numb and cold body. _'Arima…Akira…Mutsuki...Saiko...Ginshi...Urie...I'm sorry.'_ Haise felt his body slip from consciousness.

And then, he knew no more as darkness finished to shroud around him line an infinite cloak.

  
** Location: Somewhere between the Maria and Rose Walls. 50 miles south of the Titan Forest. **

The sensation of the sunlight his skin accompanied by the annoying heat was the first thing he felt and forced him to twist to protect his face from the annoying sunlight.

"Nghh ... Five more minutes."

Something like a breeze caressed his face and was what ended up giving back to him. Haise's gray eyes widened as he remembered, and he hastened to sit up just to notice one thing.

"What the hell?" Exclaimed Haise rising quickly realizing that there was something terribly wrong with his situation.

The industrial odor of the roof where he was sure his body had been mutilated by Rose while he had his mental conflict had been replaced by the fresh and pure breath of the field, for he was basically in one.

The investigator looked sideways until his gaze finally settled on where he had been lying.

A short pasture had served as his bed for some time if the crushed vegetation beneath his body served as an indication, what surrounded him was nothing more than an extensive green meadow with a few trees and elevations on the ground.

Haise, an accomplished reader, and connoisseur of his country could well say one thing: That had nothing to do with the landscape of his country, at all.

He lifted one of his arms to try to cover his forehead from the intense rays of the sun that shone in the sky, signaling noon, and almost exclaimed when he noticed that his arm was intact, and he was not talking about the one that had been ripped from his Mental 'duel' against that black monstrosity that had risen from his belly but the one that had lost in its neglect against Rose in the reality.

Haise inspected the limb and also noticed that his silver trenchcoat that almost always used the tapestry too. That completely discarded many of the theories he had in mind about his situation.

Although it was possible that his arm had naturally regenerated, this was very distant since this event could take weeks if not months to be completed, in addition to remembering that he had left the garment on the first floors of that building before the Special Class Ui [That bigoted smoker] had ordered him to climb the building with the help of his kagune to be able to intercept whoever tried to escape through the roof.

They were probably vestiges of his former, no, Ken Kaneki's personality at the time, but he had been tempted to respond. _'Why don't you do it?'_

Likewise, Haise was too surprised to see there was no trace of cuts in his clothing, no traces of blood, injuries, nothing.

Almost as if they had put on a new outfit identical to his own, given the food necessary for his regeneration to take effect only to abandon him in a desolate wasteland and completely oblivious to his knowledge.

Strange, isn't it?

The ghoul investigator turned to his previous resting place only to take one last surprise.

There, right next to where he had found himself unconscious was the long tapered hilt of Yukimura, the blade was not active signaling the fact that the button was not pressed. Now completely confused, Haise raised his favorite (not to say unique) quinque and activated it, a smile formed on his face as he watched as the red vapor and discharge emitted from the tip of the handle was transformed into the long blade.

"Welcome back, Yukimura," Haise commented before turning it off and putting the grip on his belt, he had almost never kept Yukimura in a briefcase, and the probability that he could find one in those places was completely remote.

Haise looked around and noticed that the position of the sun had slowly shifted, which meant that he should hurry if he did not want to be trapped in the gloom, so he had to move to find some refuge and investigate the area.

"How the hell did I get to this place?" The bicolored-haired investigator thought with a frown while he began his walk "Although I think the right question should be, What the hell is this place?"

** xXx **

Haise had been walking for what seemed like a couple of hours and he could say something with complete certainty: That those places in truth were devoid of all presence. His only companions had been the few clouds in the sky and the sun that gradually began to diminish the intensity of its rays.

A drop of sweat slipped down his forehead and caused Haise to run his hand over it to clean it, luckily a light breeze at that moment and refreshed him, preventing him from continuing with his idea of getting rid of his trenchcoat.

In spite of everything, Haise could not deny that the landscape was quite beautiful as if the human influence had not set foot in that region, which could be true since it had not seen any trace of the work of the man.

 _'Wow, what I'd give for some coffee or water right now.'_ Haise thought as he stood in the shade of a tree to take a breath, taking advantage of the fact that he was on high ground scanning the landscape from there. From what he could see, it seemed that the terrain rose much more in a few miles in the meadow that stretched before it.

In spite of his calm appearance, Haise was not so calm, for during the journey he had inspected his mental landscape only to find it completely empty and even with the same pattern of the chessboard as the floor, but no trace of any of his inner 'demons'.

Although the last should have been a relief for him, in those moments even he would have preferred to have some company, even if it was his sinister past-self adopting the appearance of a child to haunt him.

Nor was he very comfortable with the fact that he had awakened in a completely unfamiliar place and in a state too good to be true. It sounded like the plot of a novel that he would surely never buy since his taste was focused on much more complex plots accompanied by rich language.

He needed answers, and soon, but first, he would have to find some trace of civilization.

Haise crossed the prairie and climbed the new slope effortlessly just to be able to see in front of this the silhouette of a creek that seemed to run through some part of the extensive meadow. In front of that, he could also see some giant boulders and clusters of trees stretching to a couple of hills much higher than the slopes he had toured.

 _'I could try to get to the hills and scan the area from there'_ Haise thought before heading down the slope, _'Sure, after taking a few sips.'_

He reached the small riverbank and leaned down to sink his hands over the refreshing vital substance leaving them to get wet, he enjoyed the fresh contact of the water for a few seconds before taking it to his face and feel as if it was moistened to contact.

Haise had always associated himself with water, the element that governed the change and the adaptation, two elements with which he was very familiar, even his own fencing movements had been commented about being swift and elegant as water, being able to effortlessly slice through a ghoul's kagune.

He started to drink from the stream, feeling his throat cool, if he had to thank for his condition as a ghoul, was that he was completely free from any disease caused by any bacteria, his RC cells were responsible for consuming any foreign organism that dared to enter his body.

Of course, sometimes Haise would have preferred to eat normal food, it was ironic that he was considered an excellent cook but could not taste what he cooked.

At least he could boast of that, he doubted that any of his fellow researchers had such a culinary talent.

Anyway, he was certain that at least his food would taste much better than the 'stew' that they served him as food from Kokuria 'with love' used to say the current Warden, the sadist Shinme Haisaki as a joke, strangely Haise rarely used to be bothered by people like him, although of course, when you work in an organization full of people like Juuzou Suzuya, Hairu Ihei, Shiki Kijima and others who were not worth mentioning one got used to that.

He had never appreciated the scent of blood being shed in dense quantities, even if it was ghouls, which had brought several critics at him.

And speaking of that scent, Haise began to detect something quite bad with water, his nose, despite lacking the superior smell of other ghoul was, even more, superior than a common human and allowed him to identify some odors. His tongue tasted something sweet mixed with the water that began to give him nausea.

And then, Haise looked at something at the bottom of the crystal clear water; A pair of thin, white branches covered with cracks and bits of a molten, rotting substance, and if that were not enough, the half-buried figure of a smiling skull looked at from the bottom of the mud.

Haise swallowed saliva and water before noticing that, the surface of the water was slowly shaking and not as a result of it, he could see how ripples were forming in this one and that they were accompanied by something else and that it was out of it.

THUD THUD THUD

The sound of something advancing and whose footsteps stirred the water at a distance, and finally, that same smell that stank of rotten flesh and sweet like a feast for flies, a smell that came just behind him.

Haise didn't want to turn to face whatever it was and did not have to, because there, in the reflection of the water could see the awful silhouette of what was approaching behind him; A grotesque disproportionate body supported by two fragile-looking legs, while two no less deformed arms sprouted from its sides with elongated, pointed fingers, a hunched back over what is an equally grotesque head with fleshy bundles sprouting from all sides, one nose whose pits were easily superior in size to his hands, a pair of stupid black eyes staring at him hungrily while a wide smile revealing two rows of decaying teeth swung open.

Haise turned over his shoulder just to run into the monster of gargantuan proportions a few feet away with one of his arms reaching out to grasp it, the monstrous limb extended at the same time as the researcher drew Yukimura's hilt and activated the blade with a single thought in mind.

'Seriously, to what kind of new Hell did I ended this time?'

 

 

* * *

 

 

 **A/N 1:** And ... Cut!

Well, this is all for the moment, I only wrote this to be free myself from the Writer's Block that affected me almost two weeks ago and which I can safely announce that it is finally over ,so those waiting for the next chapter of Path of the Whirling Shadow / Whirpool's Heir will have it next week, although I must say I enjoyed writing this since Tokyo Ghoul has always been my favorite seinen manga and his style is quite similar to my original one.

Now, the parts of the 'internal dialogue/dispute' between Haise and the mental projection of Kaneki or 'Chibineki' are my interpretation of what happened in Chapter 53, when Haise finally accepts Kaneki completely and disappears leaving us with Akaneki and Black Reaper, which were my favorite facets of the current One-Eyed King.

Returning to the point, what happened here was different: Haise resisted the change and opted to not embrace Chibineki's suicide request and even tried to fight for control, of course as we could see it did not work and Haise disappeared in a very different way and appeared in a much worse place to the Universe of Tokyo Ghoul.

So I think I should make this clear once and for all: The protagonist of this story is Haise Sasaki, one who rejected his past and preferred to live with his given identity and with whom he had for almost three years instead of fully accept the tragedy of his past and his suicidal will.

 **A/N:** As the title said, this is merely a prototype first posted in Fanfiction.net some months ago. Don't expect continuation.

However, in some months the final product will be posted.

Anyway, love this, hate it, I already managed to get rid of the blockade, so I will continue with my projects.

Cheers!

-Ezequiel Kirishiki- (17/11/17)


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